The stock's current level is a far cry from its 2011 initial public offering price, when the stock popped above $26 in its debut — far above the expected range of $16 to 20. Since last year, Groupon's shares have shed nearly 70 percent of their value.

IPO Gainers and Losers

Ticker

Social Media IPOs

Price

IPO Filing Price

1st Day of Trade

% Gain/Loss Since IPO

Market Cap

LNKD

LinkedIn

168.55

45

5/19/2011

274.6%

18.38 bil

YELP

Yelp

21.86

15

3/2/2012

45.7%

1.39 bil

FB

Facebook

26.87

38

5/18/2012

-29.3%

64 bil

GRPN

Groupon Inc

5.98

20

11/4/2011

-70.1%

3.92 bil

ZNGA

Zynga

3.52

10

12/16/2011

-64.8%

2.76 bil

Source: CNBC Analytics

In assessing prospects for Groupon's stock, analysts were sober to the point of depression. Wells Fargo lamented "the company's recent change in strategy" that has made Groupon less of a technology purveyor and more of a retailer.

"We liked the original Groupon business model of providing a syndicated commerce platform for merchants," the bank said, as it downgraded the company to market perform and cut its 2013 estimates.

The daily deal site posted a share loss of one cent per share, compared with a loss of 2 cents a year ago. Analysts had expected the company to post a profit of 3 cents a share. Meanwhile, it said it expects first-quarter revenue to be between $560 million and $610 million. Analysts had expected $650 million, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

"Despite double-digit customer growth, with gross profit declining year over year, Groupon has arguably the weakest fundamentals in our eCommerce coverage sector," said Bank of America. The firm downgraded Groupon to "underperform," and lowered its price target to $4.20 a share from $5.25 a share.